Device for cleaning poultry gizzards or the like



1953 e. R. BIDDINGER ET AL ,5

DEVICE FOR CLEANING POULTRY GIZZARDS OR THE LIKE Original Filed July 22, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR. uy 1?. cB/oofna e r CZr/ if K 2 F/f.

A77 RNEY ,1 G. R. BIDDINGER ET AL 2,563,899

DEVICE FOR CLEANING POULTRY GIZZARDS OR THE LIKE Original Filed July 22 1950 2 Sheets-Sheat 2 INVENTORS 6 -3 12- B 29 04 f K -5- Patented Dec. 29, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE DEVICE FOR CLEANING POULTRY GIZZARDS OR THE LIKE Guy R. Biddinger, Bellwood; and Carl H. Koonz; Chicago, Ill., assignors to Swift & Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Illinois.

Original application July 22, 1950, sriaLNo.

175,412. Divided and this application February 19, 1952, Serial No. 272,332

12 Claims.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for use inthe opening and cleaning of poultry gizzards or the like.

In'the dressing of scale. particularly poultry which is to be cut up before distribution, it is desirable thateach portion. of thebirdzbe completely prepared for cooking. The housewife is much a product which merely need be cooked than she is to buy onewhich requires additional processing before tl1e1 cookingoperation can be started. To this'end', the gizzards of the birds are cut open and the contentsxand the inner lining of the gizzard removed before it is marketed. As a matter of: fact, thispractice has become so more likely to buy prevalent that it has come to beacc'epted on the part of-theqhousewivesand" they possibly would overlook performing thezstep themsel "es should poultry on a Commercial they; buy a bird which hadnot; been so dressed:

Thecommon practice has been to perform the necessary operations in the cleaning and preparationof poultry gizza-rds solely byhand. Aprincipal object of the present invention vide: an apparatus whereby the opening and cleaning of the-gizzard may be easily; and quickly performed. A particular feature of" the present invention is its. adaptability for continuous ma"- chine operation. Through the use of the present invention for opening and washing the gizzards theiproduetien of prepared poultrygizzards may be greatly increased and the unitpreparation cost substantially reduced,

Additional: objects and advantages of the invention include an apparatus which is low in undue troubleor difiiculty.

Additional objects and'advantages will become apparent from. the following description; taken in conjunction with the drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a, plan view of an embodiment of" the present. invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of theembodiment of. Fig. 1, with a. portion thereof broken away;

Fig. 3 is an enlargedand Fig. 4 is a section shcwi-ngv the: gizzard;

In: the through 3;

taken at line dddfFigB pale and knife only;

embodiment ilius'trated Figs. 1'- the poultry" giazards Hi are trans-'- perspective view of the openinghead of the embodiment of Figs. 1 and 2;

they are men transported is to pro' first cost, which is readily operableby inexperi enced labor. which requireslittle maintenance, and which is kept clean and sanitary without ported to an: open-fig head, generally H, by"

. 2 through the washer, generally i3-,- by a'conveyor, generally I4, where the contents ofthe gizzards are disposed of and the gizzards thoroughly cleaned.

Referring'toFigs. 1 and '2, the conveyor l4 iii= cludesia beltlt of a suitable material, preferably one which is impervious to the action of water'- or the chemicals which may be involved. The

Each of carriers |-2 includesra pale E6 attached;v One leg of to belt it by means of a bracket 27. the angular bracketifii isbolted to the belt I'G by meanszof bolts 25 as illustratedinFig. 3:

an abutment for the gizzardson pale 26' aswill be hereinafter described. To increasethe i abutment area,- the' outwardlwprojecting: legs. of"

bracket 21 may have portions; extending beyond the point of attachment between-thepale ZEi-andt the bracket 2-? as illustrated at 2'9'-(Fig. 3)

Each palezt. is formed' with a longitudina -l. groove 28 therein on the side thereof away from theconveyor i i"- (as best seen in Fig. 4). The

groove, is sufficiently large to receive at least-- a portion of the lower edge of the'gizzard-cuttingw kn fe.

Opening head II 3|. along the path traversed by pales 26; The knife 3! ispointed and theVedge 3-Z thereof which; facesthe approaching izzards is sharpened as illustratediinFig. 3. The edge32 slopes upwardly a sufiicient distance to be well abovethetop of the gizzards carried on pale 26. The projecting point-of knife-3| is positioned to. bereceived Withe: in the groove 28 in pale 26'.

Attached to the rearward end of knife. 31 l .are a pair of extending wings 33 tospread the sides of the gizzards as they are cut by knife 3|. Referring particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, the washer It includes a water spray head 35 connectedtov a suitable water supply by means of. av pipe, 3? having a control valve 33 therein. An enclosure such as pan 3'9'is utilized to catch the water and Power means I 8 consists The. outwardly-projectingleg-of bracket 2'l-alsoforms! I includes-1a,mountingbracket 35 attached toframe 2| and supporting a'knife;

material removed from the gizzards and to conduct them to a suitable disposal point through a drainpipe 40.

The method of opening the gizzards is to impale the gizzards Ill on carrier i2 and then to slip the knife through the gizzard above the carrier and by a movement of the knife edge relative to the carrier to cut the portion of the gizzard above the carrier. In the illustrated embodiment, this is achieved by means of the tapered edge 32 of knife 3|. The pale 26 provides an opening through two opposite walls of the gizzard l0, and the portions of those walls above the pale are cut by inserting the knife 3| into groove 28 in the pale 26, with the knife blade longitudinally parallel to the groove, and sliding the edge of the lmife through the portion of the gizzard above said opening. The abutment formed by the outthereon, conveyor means to move each of said pales and associated pusher members along a given path at spaced intervals, with said grooves parallel to the line of movement, a pointed knife, the pointed end of which is receivable within said groove with the knife edge disposed away from the pale, and means to support said knife along said path in a position in which the knife is substantially parallel to the grooves in the pales, with the knife point toward the approaching pales and position to be received in said grooves with the edge of the knife projecting outwardly from saidpales whereby the knife edge will be pushed through and will sever the walls of the gizzard between the groove and a side of the gizzard.

2. An apparatus for cleaning the gizzards of poultry or the like, including a plurality of standing leg of bracket 2'! and ear portions 29 acts as a pusher member to move the gizzard supported on pale 26 into the knife as the carrier I2 is moved by belt 15.

The tapered edge of the knife has the effect of moving the knife edge away from the pale as the knife and the pale move longitudinally toward one another. In addition, the flat sides of the knife afford some transverse support to t he gizzard.

The point of insertion of the pale through the gizzard is preferably adjacent the inside of the bottom wall of the giz-zard as illustrated in Fig. 4.

In this way the cut in the gizzard is sufficiently large to permit the complete opening and cleaning of the gizzard,

.In some instances the sides of the gizzard, after the gizzard has been severed by knife 3|, will fall away from about pale 26 and the sides of the gizzard will be supported on belt Hi. If this does not occur, the separating of the sides of the gizzard will be performed by means of wings 33. After the gizzard has been laid out flat on conveyor I4 it is cleaned by passing through washer iii,

The gizzards may be loaded onto pales 26 by an operator. The operator merely stands at the right-hand end of the conveyor in Figs. 1 and 2 and as the pales come around the right-hand pulley I! the gizzards may be slipped thereover. The movement of the pales around pulley I1 is such that the pales stand out away from the belt IS a substantially greater distance than is normally true inasumch as they tend to assume a tangential position with respect to the pulley.

After the gizzards pass through washer 13 they are carried along the conveyor to the end thereof whereupon they drop into a bin 4| positioned under the pulley I1. I

The foregoing description is for the purpose of complying with 35 U. S. C. 112, and we do not desire to be limited to the exact details shown and described, for obvious modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which this most nearly appertains, and such modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

The present application is a division of our prior application SerialNo. 175,412 filed July 22, 1950.

We claim:

1. An apparatus for opening poultry gizzards or the like, including a plurality of slender pales each having longitudinal grooves therein and adapted to be inserted through the gizzards, a pusher member associated with each of said sales to provide an abutment for the gizzards placed slender pales each having longitudinal grooves therein and adapted to be inserted through the gizzards, a pusher member associated with each of said pales to provide an abutment for the gizzards placed thereon, conveyor means to move each of said pales and associated pusher members along a given path at spaced intervals, with said grooves parallel to the line of movement, a pointed knife, the pointed end of which is receivable within said groove with the knife edge disposed away from the pale, means to support said knife along said path in a position in which the knife is substantially parallel to the grooves in the pales with the knife point toward the ap-- proaching pales and positioned to be received in said grooves with the edge of the knife projecting outwardly from said pales whereby the knife edge will be pushed through and will sever the walls of the gizzard between the groove and the side of the gizzard, and opening and washing means impaling means adapted'to be inserted through the gizzard to retain the same, knife means mounted on said frame adjacent the path of movement of said impaling means and adapted tocut open the gizzard on said impaling means.

4. An apparatus as set forth in claim 3 including gizzard washing means mounted on said frame in alignment with said knife for washing said gizzard.

5. An apparatus for opening poultry gizzards or the like, said apparatus including an elongated pale means adapted to have a. gizzard placed thereon, knife means operatively associated with said pale means and having a cutting edge, said knife means being positioned with at least a portion of said cutting edge in proximity to a side of said pale means, and driving means operatively connected to one of said means to move said one of said means linearly with respect to the other of said means to effect splitting of the gizzard.

6. An apparatus for opening poultry gizzards or the like, said apparatus including an eloncutting edge, said knife means being positioned with at least a portion of said cutting edge in proximity to a side of said pale means, said knife means being positioned with an edge of the knife means within said groove, and driving means operatively connected to one of said means to move said one of said means linearly with respect to the other of said means to efiect splitting of the gizzard.

7. An apparatus for opening poultry gizzards or the like, said apparatus including an elongated pale means adapted to have a gizzard placed thereon, said pale means having one pointed end and a pusher adjacent the other end to provide an abutment for the gizzards slipped over said pointed end, knife means operatively associated with said pale means and having a cutting edge, said knife means being positioned with at least a portion of said cutting edge in proximity to a side of said pale means, and driving means operatively connected to one of said means to move said one of said means linearly with respect to the other of said means to effect splitting of the gizzard.

8. An apparatus for opening poultry gizzards or the like, said apparatus including an elongated pale means adapted to have a gizzard placed thereon, said pale means having a longitudinal groove therein, said pale means having one pointed end over said pointed end, knife means operatively associated with said pale means and'having a cutting edge, said knife means being positioned with at least a portion of saidcutting edge in proximity to a side of said pale means, said knife means being positioned with an edge of the knife means within said groove, and driving means operatively connected to one of said means to move said one of said means linearly with respect to the other of said ting of the gizzard.

9. An apparatus for opening poultry gizzards or the like, said apparatus including an elongated pale means adapted to have a gizzard placed thereon, knife means operatively associated with said pale means and having a cutting edge, said knife means being positioned with at least a portion of said cutting edge in proximity to a side of said pale means, and driving means including a conveyor attached to said pale means to move said pale means linearly with respect to said knife means to effect splitting of the gizzard.

10. An apparatus for opening poultry gizzards or the like, said apparatus including an elongated pale means adapted to have a gizzard placed means to effect splitand a pusher adjacent the other end to provide an abutment for the gizzards slipped thereon, said pale means having a, longitudinal groove therein, knife means operatively associated with said pale means and having a cutting edge, said knife means being positioned with at least a portion of said cutting edge in proximity to a side of said pale means, said knife means slipped over said pointed end, knife means operatively associated with said pale means and having a cutting edge, said knife means being positioned with at least a portion of said cutting edge in proximity to a side of said pale means, and driving means including a conveyor attached to said pale means to move said pale means linearly with respect to said knife means to effect splitting of the gizzard.

12. An apparatus for opening poultry gizzards or the like, said apparatus including an elongated pale means adapted to have a gizzard placed thereon, said pale means having a longitudinal groove therein, said pale means having one pointed end and a pusher adjacent the other end to provide an abutment for the gizzards slipped over said eratively associated with .said pale means and having a cutting edge, said knife means being positioned with at least a portion of said cutting edge in proximity to a side of said pale means, said knife means being positioned with an edge of the knife means within said groove, and driving means including a conveyor attached to said pale means to move said pale means linearly with respect to said knife means to effect splitting of the gizzard.

GUY R. BIDDINGER. CARL H. KOONZ.

References Cited in the file of this patent pusher adjacent the otherend to provide an abutment for the gizzards pointed end, knife means op- 

